how do you say "as long as"
I want to say "Borrow it for as long as you want." Is this correct? "Préstalo por en tanto que quieras" ? What is the spanish for "as long as" ? The translator gives me various other ways of saying this and I don't entirely trust it.
4 Answers
"As long as".- con tal de que
"Borrow it as long as you want".- Tómalo prestado con tal de que lo quieras.
As this translation does not make much sense, it would be "te lo doy prestado con tal de que lo quieras". In this case, it is a conditional. "As long as" = si or con tal de que. The best translation is: te lo doy prestado si lo quieres.
Notice the two sentences:
Te lo doy prestado con tal de que lo quieras (use of subjunctive)
Te lo doy prestado si lo quieres (use of indicative).
Anyway, the two sentences are correct, but it sounds better the second one. But it is something without importance. Both of them mean the same.
Sometimes translations are not literal. A literal translation will almost always work. But knowing what the person would really say in a regular conversation is the challenge! So we are assuming the person already asked if they could borrow something. I think if I were lending someone something, and they could keep it as long they wanted, or borrow it as long as they wanted, I would automatically say "quédatelo el tiempo que quieras" . Notice how the literal translation of "borrow" is not used "prestar". I hear "quedatelo" much more, much more frequently. Or you could "te lo presto el tiempo que quieras". Also notice subjunctive.
Well let my show my inability to speak Spanish again -- I would say:
"Puedes préstarlo por como mientras quieras."
I used "quieras" in the subjunctive -- I tend to use the subjunctive quite a bit anymore in my conversations.
Any corrections would be great.
Hi Victoria.
As long as = mientras
